Crazy Creatures Andrewsarchus mongoliensis Andrewsarchus was a large predatory Time: 40 Million Years mammal that lived in the Eocene period. Ago Andrewsarchus looks like one type of mammal but was related to a very different one! Period: Eocene Palaeontologists have only found the skull The Hippo of Andrewsarchus, but we think we can work out what the rest of the body looked Wolf like by looking at other similar animals. Your task 1: Draw Andrewsarchus! It had: A long, powerful head like a wolf Long horse-like legs A thick rat-like tail A short neck Your task 2: Have a look at your drawing. What kind of animal around today does Andrewsarchus look like? Why do you think this? Creature Fact! Your task 3: What kind of place do whales and hippos live? Would Andrewsarchus have lived there? Andrewsarchus was a cetancodont mammal. Other mammals in this group include hippos and whales! Your task 4: Palaeontologists are still a bit confused about Andrewsarchus! It is very hard to work out lots about an animal when you only know what its skull looks like! Why do you think this is? Your task 5: Andrewsarchus might have had long, horse-like legs. Do you think it was a very fast animal? Are there any predators today with very long legs? Your task 6: Andrewsarchus was related to a group of mammals we call even toed ungulates. Do some research to find four other even toed ungulates. 1. 2. 3. 4. Are any other animals of this group predators? Research key words: Mammal Ungulate Predator CRAZY-O-METER How weird do you think this creature was? Boring! Yeah Ok A bit weird Really weird! Woah! By Ryan Somma - Andrewsarchus mongoliensis, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6327426 By Dmitry Bogdanov - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68637699.